Rated a 4-star recruit by ESPN and given 3-stars by both 247Sports and Rivals, Baldwin adds to what has quickly become a breakthrough recruiting effort for Kellogg and UMass.

With his verbal, Baldwin joins a 2016 freshman class that already features 3-star guard Unique McLean and, as of Monday, New Orleans high school teammates DeJon Jarreau, a 4-star guard and top 100 recruit nationally, and Brison Gresham, a 3-star forward.

Baldwin, a 6-foot-8 forward, made his commitment official at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning via Twitter. Over the course of his recruitment, he drew interest from a number of Northeast schools, including UConn, Boston College, Rhode Island and La Salle. In the end, his decision came down to Creighton, West Virginia, Temple, DePaul and UMass.

And in picking UMass, Baldwin went with the school that had stuck with him the longest.

"Coach Kellogg and I keep in touch," Baldwin told MassLive.com in June after the Minutemen officially offered him a scholarship for 2016, "They were the first school to express interest in me when I was a freshman and they have been there since.

"They told me that I've come a long way since the beginning of my recruitment. They see that I've put the time and effort into being a better basketball player."

In addition to that persistence, the John Francis Kennedy Champions Center, UMass' brand new basketball facility coming on line for the 2015-16 season, was a draw for Baldwin.

"The part that I liked was the new training/practice facility they have for the upcoming season," he said.

ESPN presents the following scouting report on Baldwin, who in two seasons with Central averaged 15.6 and 11.8 points per game:

"Baldwin has a wealth of natural tools and talent at his disposal. He's naturally powerful and plenty athletic for a player of his build. He has good touch around the rim and has worked himself into a consistent shooting threat from 15-18 feet and can attack a defender with a bounce or two. He runs the floor well, can play both the four and five spots, is a very good rebounder and also has the soft hands to come up with tough catches in traffic.

The consistency of his motor used to be the biggest concern, but few players have done more of a 180 in this department as his maturation has been very impressive. On the floor, Baldwin doesn't have much of a refined post game and is probably best suited to be a secondary scoring threat, yet one who is capable of getting double figures on a consistent basis. He's a good rebounder, who has the potential to be great on the glass.

He proved himself to be a high-major recruit in his last summer on the circuit. He's a strong body and good athlete with moves well, catches, finishes, rebounds and makes open shots out to 15-18 feet."

Kellogg, as per NCAA rules, is unable to comment on recruits until they sign a National Letter of Intent. The early signing period for basketball begins Nov. 11.

Now that Baldwin is on board, UMass has four of its five class of 2016 scholarship slots accounted for. With over six weeks to go until signing day, Kellogg's recruiting efforts are far from over, both with Baldwin, Jarreau, Gresham and McLean as well as with whomever ends up filling out the final scholarship.

UMass isn't quite to the finish line yet. But as things stand now, the team's class of 2016 is already the most impressive recruiting haul of Kellogg's tenure in Amherst in terms of profile, surpassing the supposed "Fab Five" class of 2009 that netted the Minutemen Terrell Vinson, Freddie Riley, Javorn Farrell, Sampson Carter and Raphiael Putney early in the Kellogg era.

There's growing hope amongst fans that the high-profile nature of UMass' recent recruiting gets could help lure other big names to Amherst – perhaps 4-star guard Bruce Brown, who's drawn significant interest from the team – and push this class even further, maybe even into top-10 nationally.

While that might have to wait, for now, Kellogg and UMass can say they got another one of their preferred targets in the form of a talented kid from Springfield.